If there is anything that our modern culture gets totally wrong, it’s how to feed babies and properly introduce solid foods. Pediatricians, dieticians, and other “experts” are quick to recommend that the perfect first food for babies at about the age of 4-6 months is rice cereal.
Not only is this advice completely misguided, it is also extremely harmful to the long term health of the child. Such advice contributes greatly to the epidemic of fat toddlers and the growing childhood obesity crisis.
Rice cereal is not a healthy first food for babies
Rice cereal is an extremely high glycemic food. This means that it spikes the blood sugar rapidly. It also contains ample amounts of double sugar (disaccharide) molecules, which are extremely hard for an immature digestive system to digest. The small intestine of a baby mostly produces only one carbohydrate enzyme, lactase, for digestion of the lactose in milk. It produces little to no amylase, the enzyme needed for grain digestion.
Interestingly, avoidance of allergies is one of the reasons cited by pediatricians for using rice cereal as the first food! While rice may be gluten free, it is by no means disaccharide free. Thus, it can contribute to the development of allergies and other autoimmune disorders just the same as a gluten containing cereal such as wheat or spelt. This is why going “gluten free” does not solve digestive ailments in the majority of children with autoimmune issues linked to grain allergies.
This approach may reduce symptoms somewhat, but it does not solve the problem entirely. The disaccharide molecule is still present in high amounts in gluten free grains. A similarly hard to digest starch molecule is present in grain substitutes such as potato flour, arrowroot, bean flours, etc.
Rice Cereal Now, Weight Issues Later?
Why then, is rice cereal so very popular as a first food to feed babies? One reason is that it is so readily accepted by the baby (who wouldn’t like a food that spikes the blood sugar? It is a bit of a “high” after all) and it fills them up like a lead brick leading to longer and more frequent periods of sleeping and more passive behavior in general. Be aware that there are still some misinformed doctors that advise mothers of babies that do not sleep well to introduce rice cereal as early as 3 months old – sometimes right into the baby bottle if the tongue thrust reflex hasn’t yet disappeared preventing the baby from taking food off a spoon! This is a recipe for childhood weight problems if I’ve ever heard one.
If your baby zonks out right after eating on a frequent basis, this is a major clue that what the child has just eaten was not easily digested (this goes for breastfeeding too .. a poor diet that is not digested well by the breastfeeding Mother will result in toxins in her breastmilk which will have an opiate like effect on the child).
Dr. McBride’s book mentioned above discusses this huge issue of toxins from undigested food and gut pathogens in the breastmilk as well. The same goes for adults, by the way. If you get sleepy after eating, it’s because what you just ate isn’t getting handled very well by your gut. The body is basically compensating for the brick in your stomach by putting you to sleep so that a sufficient amount of energy can be diverted to digestion.
Even Health Canada recognizes the dangers of cereal as a first food for babies and recommends against it.
So What is the Right First Food for Babies?
A baby’s digestive system is much better equipped to handle fats and proteins than carbohydrates. For this reason, a wonderful first food for babies is a soft boiled egg yolk from a pastured hen. Take care to only use the yolk and not the egg white which contains difficult to digest proteins. For my own children, I started giving a taste of a soft boiled egg yolk from my own plate starting at about 4-6 months old. Just a taste! If the child is completely uninterested, then try again in a week or two.
If the child likes the little taste that you put on her tongue or lip, then give her two tastes the next day and three tastes the next day, gradually building up to the entire egg yolk. Never force the child to eat. Remember that egg yolk is an extremely rich food and force feeding any rich food can cause the child to vomit.
Benefits of Egg Yolk for Babies
Egg yolk from pastured chickens contain ample amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and natural cholesterol which are critical to a child’s mental development and may be lacking in breastmilk depending on the quality of the mother’s diet. Children who receive sufficient omega 3 fats in their diet tend to speak clearly and understand verbal direction from the parents at a very early age.
I just went back and looked at my children’s baby books and all 3 of them (even the boys) spoke short sentences by 15-17 months of age. First words (Mama or Dada) occurred around 7 months. While these sentences were very simple (“Get that”, “Don’t want that”, “More of this”) I have no doubt that getting ample omega-3 fats from their diet played a big part in their ease of communicating at an early age. The pronunciation was clear enough to be understood even by those outside the family too.
At 6 Months of Age
At about 6 months of age, grate a bit of raw, grassfed beef or chicken liver into the warm egg yolk for baby to eat. This mimics the traditional practice of African mothers who would chew raw liver and then give small amounts to their babies as a first food.
Make sure that the raw liver is frozen for a minimum of 14 days as recommended by the USDA to eliminate any risk of parasites. Mashed banana is also a wonderful carbohydrate to add around this time. Banana digests very easily due to the copious amounts of amylase present. When the enzyme is present in the food, there is no need for baby’s small intestine to produce it herself.
If you can’t source quality raw liver in your area, desiccated liver powder can be used instead.
At Age 10 Months
At the age of 10 months or so, add pureed meats, fruits and vegetables. Introduce one at a time to reduce any chance of a reaction. Best also to avoid high starch veggies like potatoes and sweet potato. These veggies contain very complex starch molecules. They are much more difficult to digest for baby than non-starchy vegetables. Take the time to make your babyfood at home with organic ingredients, and mash the veggies withgrassfed butter.
It is worth the effort! Organic jarred baby food is not only overpriced. It is microwaved, watered down and contains no healthy fats to facilitate absorption.
Consumption of veggies with a bit of healthy fat like butter increases mineral absorption tremendously! You can freeze your homemade baby food in ice cube trays. A quick thaw in a small sauce pan (not the microwave!) makes for a fast and nutritious meal.
Soups made with homemade broth rank as one of the most nutritious foods for babies at this age. The gelatin in the homemade broth is protective against any intestinal bugs. It facilitates digestion too so that baby absorbs as many nutrients as possible.
When Should Grains be Introduced?
It’s a good idea to delay introduction of grain based foods and starchy vegetables for as long as possible. Grains are the hardest foods to digest of all.
Some experts advise that a child pass his/her second birthday before eating these foods. Whatever you decide, it is wise to forgo them until well after the first birthday. Even then, the grains should be properly prepared. This means they are either sprouted, sour leavened or soaked to ensure maximum digestibility. This careful preparation breaks down some of the hard to digest starches, gluten and anti-nutrients such as phytic acid.
It will take every ounce of your will power to keep the grain based foods out of your child’s mouth until well after her first birthday. In fact, the longer you can delay, the better. Teething biscuits, cheerios, crackers, and bread are all favorite foods for moms to feed as soon as the child can sit up in a high chair and grab from a plate. The first thing most parents give a baby at a restaurant is bread from the bread basket.
Babies may love it, but don’t do it!
Resist the temptation to use these foods as a pacifier. Commit to offering only truly nourishing fare at such a young age. The time will come soon enough when your child will have more control over his/her food choices. Wisely use this time of complete control to make sure every calorie baby eats is nutrient dense and easily digested!
Skip the Fruit Juice!
On a final note, whatever you do, skip the fruit juice! Fruit juice from the store, even if organic, is just sugar water. All the nutrition, enzymes and probiotics has been pasteurized away. It just spikes the blood sugar and increase the risk of obesity.
Juice also kills a child’s appetite for hours, even a day or two. Many a Mom has told me that when she took away the fruit juice, within a few days, a picky eater suddenly started eating!
The one exception would be freshly pressed juice diluted with some filtered water. Fresh fruit juice is full of enzymes and nutrition and would be an acceptable drink for baby on occasion. This is acceptable after age 10 months or so.
Still unsure where to start? This video on how to prepare the best first food for baby can help too!
Research shows that breastfed babies should not be given anything but breastmilk before 6 months. Also, baby led weaning is where it’s at!
Hi Sarah. I am so thankful to have read some of your articles. I am trying to do my best to transition feeding my baby the better foods for him. Just like most everyone, my pediatrician recommended me to start on cereal and then jarred foods. Now, as I’m researching I’m realizing that is obviously not the right way to go. Besides the egg yolk and raw meat, is there any other foods that I can puree for my baby? He’s almost 8 months old. Are there any vegetables that I should stay away from because they won’t digest very well? Also, he’s starting to get teeth and you mentioned to not give him the teething biscuits, cheerios, etc. What can I give him as snack/finger food that will be nutritious and good for his health?
I let my children chew on a soft teething cloth instead of teething biscuits.
Puree veggies in homemade broth would be an excellent food at 8 months. Bananas and avocados are great too.
Are there any veggies I should stay away from?
it all sounded good until you recommended giving babies dead animals
My 11 month old has been refusing egg yolks since 4months do I waited till he was 6 months and to this day he still won’t eat them alone, with sea salt, or liver so I make him a raw milk, banana, egg yolk, berry, and liver smoothie and he eats it like a champ. He still breast feeds primarily but I’m not wasting what little calories he gets from solids on crap like cereal. What a wasted opportunity to get the important fat soluble activators and minerals! Fortunately he thinks cod liver oil is delicious so we don’t have to fight over that one.
Great article. I wish I had known all this stuff when we introduced solids to our son. I did know to give him more fat and I was happy when he ate meat…I avoided grains as much as I could but I barely knew why I was doing it. I didn’t know all this stuff. Anyway, I eventually started giving him grains more and I think that contributed to his food issues he has now. Oh, if only I could turn back time!
I agree with almost everything that you’re stating on *what* to feed babies. Great advice. However, I strongly disagree with your time frame for introducing solids. I think that 4 months may have worked for your kids but in general is WAY too early for most babies. I cringe when I see people recommending introducing solids so early.
According to my mother who was a home birth midwife/nurse midwife/labor & delivery hospital administrator for a combined 20+ years, a baby’s stomach lining is not fully formed until around 7 months of age. Prior to that it is not fully capable of properly digesting solids. Some may do ok but the vast majority have issues with gas, constipation, and various other issues. She recommends not introducing any solids until at least 7 months. As a scientist myself I don’t take her word as gospel but most of the reading that I have done backs up her statements.
And as others have said, babies do not need any nutrition other than breastmilk until at least 1 year of age. As long as the mom is healthy, eating a diverse and nutritous diet, and producing enough milk to satisfy her baby, that’s all that’s needed. 🙂
Hi Sarah-
is it ok to pan fry an egg and give my 7 month old son a taste of the egg yolk that way? the yolk was only a little runny.. that’s what i did this morning but read that that is not how most people soft boil their eggs. i gave him a taste and he seemed to like it. please advise.
Hi Sarah. My son is 12 months old, breastfed & eats (grain-free) homemade baby food. I plan to breastfeed for at least another year. The babies around him are eating everything that he doesn’t (waffles, breads, nutrigrain bars, fruit juice, you name it!). : ( Boy, is it turning into a challenge, but no worries, mom will not give in. : ) Is there a food guide book/cookbook out there for mom’s in my situation? At this stage, I don’t know what more I should be doing, what he is ready for….less breastmilk, more solids, cows milk, etc. Your help will be so appreciated, Sarah. Thank you.
I’m not Sarah, but I wanted to chime in with what I did. By 12 months both my boys were pretty much eating anything I was (except for something very spicy which I don’t eat much, anyway). My older breastfed till he was 3 and I’m still BF my younger who just turned 2. You can start introducing anything you’re eating, especially the more nutritious things: fats, organ meats, veggies, etc. Unless there is a history of allergy in the family you are safe. Oh, you might want to wait on nuts.. I think I did till the kids were older though my younger one has been eating nuts for a few months now. JMO…
This article has made so much sense of my 6 month old and the trials we’ve had!!
I am so ready to jump on this with one exeption- I just can’t fathom giving my baby raw meat! I have half a grassfed cow in my deepfreeze and so I have ample opportunity too. I’ve already introduced many organic fruits and veggies with no seen bad reactions, but he recently got sick and has gone back to soley nursing. Should I keep him on strictly breatmilk and start over again? Introduce egg yokes…… Ect?? Help me overcome my fears in feeding him raw meat……!!! Please 🙂
I’m so glad I found this article today! My son is five months old, and he just started eating mashed bananas a few days ago. I had hoped to keep him exclusively breastfed a bit longer, but in addition to an insatiable appetite (eating every two hours, sometimes more, during the day and around four feedings at night), he started grabbing and crying for my food whenever I ate. He can’t get enough of his bananas now. He opens his mouth wide and makes “mmmm” noises after each bite. My gut told me to not start him on rice cereal, and I’m so glad I listened! Thanks for the information! He’ll definitely be trying some egg yolk soon.